Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the Capes and Tights podcast right here on capesandtights.com dot. I'm your host, Justin Soderbergh. This week is also brought to you by Galactic Comics and collectibles at galacticcomics and collectibles.com. but this is an episode where we see the return of Brian McCauley, author of books like Curse of the Reaper, which was named best horror books of 2002 by Esquire magazine, as well as his Christmas horror novella Candy Cane Kills, which was released in 2023 from short wave Publishing. But we came on here to really talk about the sequel to that, which is k and a King Kills. Again, the second slang, which comes out November 12, 2024, from shortwave as well. We also touched a little bit on his fall 2025 release about breathe in. It's called breathe in, breathe out from poison pen press. So this is Brian McCauley returning to the podcast to talk about his books and so much more before you listen. Also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, bluesguyena threads, all those things. Also rate reviews, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, and all your major podcasting platforms. But this is Brian McCauley, author of books such as Curse of the Reaper and the Candy Cane kills series of books over at the Killer VHS series at shortway Publishing. Enjoy, everyone.
Welcome back to the podcast, sir. How are you?
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me back. I'm doing really well.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Good. Hold on a second. I want you to do that again because my microphone is not on the right. No, maybe it is. We'll do it again, though.
Welcome back to the podcast. How are you today?
[00:01:34] Speaker B: I'm great, Justin. Thanks so much for having me back.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: You know, it looks like it's sunny there. Is it sunny in Arizona?
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. It's relentlessly hot here on October 14, which just delightful. All the fun, you know, cozy fall vibes of 100 plus degree weather.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Well, it's like here it's pouring rain in Maine. And my side, we went outside to put my daughter in a car with my wife to bring to daycare. And my son goes, why is it raining? And go, I don't know, man, but it's like, not even like, it was like a sprinkling rain. And in New England, you know, that's like, we thrive at the idea of these, like, color changing leaves. Like, the changing of the colors on the leaves is like a big satorus thing. It's a thing we love. One of the benefits of living in New England. And then it pours like it did last night and into today. And it's like all the leaves are off the trees now. Cause it was windy and rainy and it just, like, all the dead leaves are just like, screw this. I'm not, I'm not hanging out and I'm just gonna fall down. So not only is it raining, but now there's just like, leaves everywhere out there. So, uh, it's not, it's not beautiful New England, uh, fall yet? It's been, uh, it's been a weird. It was cold, too. I don't know. You guys are getting all the heat from us.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: I know. I miss, I mean, I grew up on the east coast and I miss having actual seasons, but, you know, but.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: That'S the thing, too. It's like, they're like, oh, it's a wet winter or wet summer. So you're gonna have great. Leaves are gonna be vibrant and all that stuff. And it's like, awesome. And then the one, one wins, takes them all out, wipe them away.
But so we talked a little while ago now, and so some things have happened. You've got a book that's come out or coming out, I should say. You have another book announced to come out, but you're teaching. How's it been since the last time we checked in? I mean, has life been amazing or what's going on? Anything new and exciting?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: It's been great. I mean, yeah, it's been super busy. You know, I teach full time at ASU's film school, so I'm teaching screenwriting and tv writing classes there.
And I get to kind of recently I've been organizing, like, film screenings, like for spooky season. I screen the exorcist for students. We're gonna do talk to me next week. It's really fun to be just like immersed in the film and tv world at school and teaching and then, yeah, writing on every morning to keep getting my new work out there. So it's been busy, but busy doing all the things that I love. I really can't complain.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: I'm so glad that you brought up talk to me because Wednesday of last week here in Bangor, Maine, we had in conversation between Joe Hill and Keith Rozin. And so it was about, obviously, fever pitch and the devil by name. And we have a connection to Joe Hill here in Bangor because his dad, obviously, Stephen Kingdom. And so Joe had a conversation with Keith, and someone in the crowd always inevitably asked the same question to these people, like, you're a horror writer. What's your favorite horror book? And it's you know, such a weird statement to make. Cause you're like, well, I don't know. And then Joe added to it was like, let's add to it. Add your three favorite horror movies. And he's like, I don't know, man. This is the. Puts me on the spot. And so Joe Hill mentioned something about, or Keith mentioned something about talk to me. And he's like, I love that movie. I'm just really pissed at it. And we're all like, okay. And he's like, because they had the opportunity to say, talk to the hand. Name the movie. Talk to the hand.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Oh, my God. That is a, that is a missed opportunity. Along the lines of the magician movie, now you see me. And then the sequel was called now you see me too, instead of now you don't. Come on.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: It was just great. I was like, oh, man, it was funny, too. I'm looking at Joe, I'm like, are you a horror writer or a comedy writer? Because this is joke after joke after joke. It was a fun conversation. I learned a lot from. Keith is a phenomenal writer. Joe's a phenomenal writer, too, in his own right, but it was just kind of funny. Talk to the hand. I'm like, it's a great movie. Talk to me. It's a great movie. So is the exercise.
I just spent the morning watching terrifyer three. So it fits this conversation kind of, right? I mean, talking about spooky holiday, but, like, Christmas holiday horror is phenomenal in my opinion. I think it's honestly might be. It's not my favorite movies. You know, I mean, like, obviously favorite scary movies are not the Christmas ones because there aren't that many really, really, really good ones. But I feel like it's my favorite to watch, if that makes any sense. I, for some reason, gravitate towards that. I love Christmas movies, but I want them to be horror movies as well.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: I mean, can we just see Rudolph.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Get his head decapitated?
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Like, this is, it's, it's such a good combination. I feel like, you know, I've done a lot of interviews where, where some people are like, what made you think of combining, like, Christmas and horror? And I was like, I don't know. It seems kind of obvious to me. I mean, it's obviously been done before, you know, black Christmas and other things. But, like, you know, especially, you know, Christmas rooted in Christianity and all the imagery and the blood and the death and the resurrection. And, like, it's, it's kind of primed for horror. And I feel like, terrifyer three certainly went there as well with all of those echoes.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: But also, you know, just the, the bright lights and the snow and the.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: It'S just something, well, it's the cheerfulness. You know, what's the, what's, you know, what's the scariest thing really is the, is the unknown. But also, like, when you're up really high and something bad happens, so like being cheerful and family and opening presents and gift giving and then slashing and murdering, it's like it's a yemenite opposite sides of the spectrum. So when you combine them both together, it kind of gives you like this weird uneasy feeling, like this shouldn't be the way it should, like is right now. And Eli Roth did a pretty good one with gapping it in the middle there and doing a horror Thanksgiving movie right in the middle of that. But yeah, it's a fun thing in my opinion, because I get to watch my Christmas movies, but I also get to be slashers at the same time or horror at the same time. And I'll tell you right now, terrifyer two to me was near perfect in so many levels.
I think that movie was just phenomenal. Terrifyer three does not live up to the, doesn't live up to that in my opinion. But it's really hard to keep, Star wars knows this, right? To keep making really good films. It's really hard to just keep that, that momentum rolling. But I think they did it well enough financially that we'll probably get a fourth one for sure. Now that, you know, I mean, I'm.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Just such a fan of indie. Like seeing indie horror succeed on this level that is just so, not just like inspiring but also kind of affirming. And it breathes, you know, life and interest into our genre so that, you know, rising tide lifts all boats.
And so certainly, you know, especially for anybody who's read curse of the Reaper, I'm a big fan of franchises that never end. So I will never kind of begrudge a franchise just like, yeah, we're going to do another one because that one was a success, so we're going to keep going. And I'm like, why would you not.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Have, and it's not even, it's not just that someone, where I point up when they were doing a conversation about terrifyer was the fact that when's the last time we had such an iconic villain character in a horror movie like this? Like, you know, if you think about on the, on the big mount Rushmores of horror, slasher films. You know, you're Freddie, you're Michael, you know, you're Jason, you have all those, those crazy characters. But let's be honest, what has lived up to that sense? Those characters really, or scream, you have obviously have Ghostface too. But like, that's probably the last really big one. I think art the clown now slides into that slot with being like, okay, yeah, we'll be in one of those top six, top five style iconic horror characters. And Damian Leone's killed it and so has David Howard Thornton in that. In that sense. Plus, they just like to freaking gross you out too.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: There is a glee that goes along with it that, yeah, people are enjoying for sure.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Like, holy shit. Like, come on, man. And then that's the thing is a lot of that's the problem they're trying to get around too. Is that like I thought, like I said about terrifyer two is there was heart, there was a story, there wasn't just killing people. And something that people look at and look at these things, including things like your books, like Candy Cane kills and the sequel, is that there's more to it than just slashing and killing. Like trying to get past that. Like, oh, they're just trying to gross people out. I'm like, no, Damian Leone is trying to make a good film too. This is not just like him out there being like, I'm going to make a splatter movie just to make a splatter movie. He's trying to make a good movie too. So I think they're trying to learn around that. But I mean, they made like $20 million this weekend in the box office, so I don't think they're having a problem with it.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's certainly important to me, like, both as a writer and as a reader and viewer. It's like I need to care. Like, I love a good gory set piece as much as the, you know, the next four fan, but everything in between has to kind of keep me invested and interested, so.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah, and that's, and that's important. So you have candy Cane kills, which was the second, no, 3rd, 2nd killer VHS book that came out last year, which was, I think, well received. I loved it. I was super excited to hear when you would talk about a sequel. For those who don't know what this is, do you want to quickly just glance on what candy cane kills is?
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So it's about a family who's kind of reaching a breaking point, the parents and two young siblings.
And, you know, the parents might be on the verge of divorce. The brother and sister are quarreling and the dad has this, you know, brilliant idea to take them from LA to this secluded, wintry cabin in the mountains to sort of mend their bonds over Christmas. But when they arrive, they find out that at this particular house ten years ago, a family was brutally murdered on Christmas morning, there is this local legend of the Candy Cane killer, and that that killer may be back for more festive mayhem.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: Okay, let's start with that a little bit. I think we might, we might have touched on it a little bit. You know, when you talked last hour or right around that time, because I don't remember. I want to say that you announced it right before it, like the splash image of just the two with the candy canes. I think we did talk about that.
This story was planned. You ended this story and that was basically the end of it. Right? This wasn't like, if I get a chance to write a sequel, I've had something. It was more like you probably had some ideas in your head, but you were writing one single killer VHS installment and there wasn't a plan from the beginning for a sequel. Right?
[00:11:51] Speaker B: Yeah. It was not a built in kind of guarantee thing. I mean, when you're writing a slasher, there's always that notion of like, leaving a door open for a sequel because that's, you know, that's the slasher structure. But, you know, I was invited to write, you know, to pitch and write an original entry for this killer VHS thing. And I knew I wanted to do a Christmas slasher. And Alan, the editor there did say, you know, like, if this is successful enough, there's a chance we could do a sequel, but, you know, we'll kind of see. But it certainly wasn't anything where I knew it was going to happen. So I did kind of tee up at the end of the first one, a general idea of where the sequel would go. But all I really knew was I wanted, if I did a sequel, it would pick up immediately where the first one ended. The first one takes place on Christmas Eve, ends on Christmas morning, and much like Halloween into Halloween two, just like immediately picks up where it left off. I wanted to do that, but instead of setting it at the hospital, it would be set at the church in this town of Nodland.
But I had no idea what else the story was beyond that until the opportunity came and the first book was a success. And Alan was like, okay, well, do you want to do a sequel?
And I didn't say yes immediately because I was like, give me a minute to kind of do some outlining. That's my process. I'm a big outliner. And it wasn't until I cracked the ending of candy cane kills again, the ending of the sequel, that I really knew, like, okay, now not only do I want to, but I feel like I have to write this and I have to find the, the arc that builds up to that ending because it felt like a satisfying way to go for the sequel.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Do you know now you have, now there's five or six, you know, coming out or coming out of these particular VHS. Do you still have that? You know, now you have the mantle of, you're the first one with two. Is that like, you're still, it is cool and all, but I've got two.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: The sequel, which adds, you know, I think that the killer VHS, like, you know, I was gonna say franchise, which I guess you could call it, it is, it's its own series and sort of franchise unto itself. And I love that Alan is bringing in new writers with every entry and, but I think, yeah, you know, my sequel is number five. And so kind of early on kind of playing as well with the goosebumps for grownups, you know, there were multiple night of the living dummies and multiple monster blood. So there's kind of a precedent for having a sequel.
But it's been so cool to, every time a new killer VHS is announced and seeing who's gonna write the next one and what's their kind of new spin on this format, it's just such a fun thing to be a part of and to see readers really loving and embracing them. And now to have enough that there are readers who are posting images of like, all five books lined up together. And we're like, this was always the dream of like the kind of beautiful collector image of that.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: It's phenomenal. And I always say, whenever I talk to someone, I talk to you. I talked to Joshua and other people who've done killer VHS too. They also like, when they buy it on their website, shortwave's website, you get this little, uh, like, member card, like you're going to rent your VHS tape at Blockbuster. Uh, which is phenomenal. Uh, in that sense, I actually have two of them. So I gave one to my son. My son's like, what is this? He's three and a half. He's like, what is this thing? I'm like, you'll never actually know. You probably won't even know what a VHS tape. You'll know what a VHS tape is because of me and my nostalgia, love for him. But, like, other than that, you're not going to know that. Yeah, I was just trying to look it up. I don't think there was monster blood. Two came out as number 18 in the goosebumps. So it took 18 books for a sequel, and yours only took five because that's how good it was. Right. You know, but Alex will always get to be the number one. Like, Alex will always and forever be the number one. Killer VHS. And then you'll be the person who had two on there as well. And they're both phenomenal. I think that's. They're both. They're both similar, but different in a sense. Yeah, they have different feels to them. They can tell that you wrote them, but they have different feels to them, which is also pretty cool.
And then you wrote this pretty quickly then, right? I mean, like, not quickly, but quickly in the sense that you did this killer VHS. Was this came out 2023 or 22.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: What year are we in?
2024 now.
[00:15:59] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: So it was. Yeah, it was 2023. November of 2023 is when the first book came out. And it was, you know, in November that Alan and I first talked about, like, the idea of the sequel.
And so I started outlining, and once I had a full outline and got the approval, it was, like, off and running. And, yeah, it was a pretty quick turnaround of kind of writing and revising. But for me, it is a novella, so it is shorter than a full length novel. But also, I think the first book is pretty fast paced, but the second book is even more, like, from page one. It's just kind of a locomotive train that doesn't really stop. So that momentum helped me write it pretty quick, too. But it was, and I appreciate you saying, and I really wanted to. I knew if I was going to write a sequel, I was like, okay, I need to find that sweet spot of, like, delivering what the first one did, but also not being just a carbon copy. And so there were a few different things that I consciously knew I wanted to change, including having Candy Cane POV, first person be part of the narrative, which was a very different approach than the first book, to make it a kind of fresh experience.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Well, I think a sequel to a novella, first of all, I don't. It's not a super common thing in the first place, because a novella is a shorter story for a reason, and because it's more of a concise telling of a story. It's. Maybe the story only needs that many pages to actually tell it. But if you told it in the exact same way and it had the exact same feel as the first one, wouldn't it just be the next chapter? Wouldn't it just be. Now you could just combine these two into a novel and been like, we could have just written a novel. So having a different feel and a different take on it made it seem like, okay, that's a story they need to be told, and then this is the next story they need to be told.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Totally. Yeah, no, and I kind of, and when I pitch it with Alan, you know, the first book, you know, a big reference point was black Christmas. Like it's, it's a group at a house and there is a killer kind of on the fringes and the, in the walls, in the creepy spaces of the house picking them off. But for the second one, I was like, my reference point for this is going to be the crow, which is a very different reference point because I was like, it's actually going to be much more of a, a revenge story and taking the slasher from the first book and making that character the kind of avenging final girl of the sequel, which to me I thought was a different, a fun way to approach it that I thought would be fun for me to write and fun for readers to have just a totally different perspective on the characters. And also just that it lined up so nicely to have the Christmas Eve book and then the Christmas Day book just very cleanly covers the whole, they're.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Only what, 100 and 3100 and something pages. So like you could just read one this year, you know, on Christmas Eve and then read the next one on Christmas Day and you all find, get your little horror fill, your slasher fill around the Christmas season. One thing I hope that doesn't happen with candy Cane kills is there's not like 17 different remakes of it like there has been with black Christmas. So I'll leave it at that. The original is, I love the original. The other ones that came after that was like, okay, you get updated technology, updated graphics, things like that. But come on. Oh, gee. Yeah, don't, don't remake this a bunch of times now, please.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that's, that's, that's inevitable in the horror, but yeah, that, I saw the original actually last year in a, in a theater with the packed audience and it's, that original is just still so good. And it, it predates Halloween and a lot of the techniques that it used.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: So yeah, I mean, that would actually be a fun, you know, try thing in this as a killer VHS to be, like, issue 25 of this, to do candy Cane kills again, but reboot it and change some things and, like, do the horror VHS or horror movie, you know, thing by rebooting something years and years later as a fun just thing. Tell the exact same idea of a story, but mess things up. 25 years later, five years later, whatever.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: It is to go full meta, and all of a sudden it's the killer Blu ray series. Like, wait, what's that?
[00:19:55] Speaker A: It's all just remakes of the first books, but, like, slightly changed things. And you're like, okay, that was a male character. We're gonna make that a female character. And that was, you know, female character. We'll make a male character. Oh, that was based in this town. We're actually gonna base it in this town and just, just screw with things to make it. I would. Or have someone else, like, switch the authors up, have someone else write candy Cane kales, and have you write, like, you know, melon head mayhem or something like that so that you get a different take on it. We've done that in the brewing industry. Years ago, uh, the brewery I work for, the neighboring brewery down across town, uh, we did that. We gave them our recipe, and they gave us their recipe, and we brewed each other's beers, but with, like, each other's water ph levels, hops, you know, grain. There's just different techniques, different systems to see how it would do. Uh, it. They came out roughly the same, but it was kind of funny, like, just having someone else take your thing and make it. So that would be an interesting thing to have someone just, uh, write, take candy king kills and readapt it into the killer blu ray series and do killer dvd series. You got to go, like, you can't skip a format. Next thing. Yeah, exactly. Or killer beta, killer, killer laserdisc.
Yeah, exactly. But, so, so you have this sequel.
You now go to write it. You have a thing. Did you accomplish everything you wanted to accomplish in this second book, or is there, is there a possibility for a third? No.
Did you, did you set up, when you set out, just tell the story the way you told it? And do you feel like, obviously, you're trying to pitch this book, so you're going to say yes anyway, but no. Do you feel like you accomplished everything you wanted to accomplish in Candy King kills again?
[00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think for me, that was one of the reasons I didn't want to say yes until I felt like I really felt totally compelled and had a vision for what the character arcs were going to be.
And so, yeah, now that it's all said and done, it feels like the right kind of sequel. Like, at the moment, it's just, it's two books. It's a duology. I would never say never in terms of another sequel, but I have other books kind of lined up for the next couple of years. So for now, as I said, the kind of Christmas Eve and Christmas day pairing and then the ending of this book, without spoiling it to me, feels like. Feels like the right kind of ending. It opens up the possibility of, like, where do we go from here? But also finds a sense of resolution that I feel, feel really pleased with and that, you know, my goal, as we were talking about earlier, like, yes, these are campy, gory, funny slashers, but they're character driven and have a certain heart to them. That's important to me. And so that also, I wanted to make sure with this sequel is like, can I both up the gore and the over the top violence, but also double down on the heart of the story?
So far, gratefully, the early reviews have been really wonderful. And it's.
The two goals were like to have people say that the death scenes are even more over the top than the first book. And then the book actually made me cry. And I'm like, yes, those were my two goals.
Somehow find a way to do both.
[00:23:03] Speaker A: I got. I cried, too, but it was just a paper cut.
Actually, think of that. I just saw a video the other picture the other day of why paper cuts hurt so bad. It's because, like, they're so, they're compressed, obviously, chips of wood, and that these little fragments of paper get stuck in the cut.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: So it's actually a splinter.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like, you look so, because it's these microscopic little filament, like small things that get stuck in the cut. But, yeah, the thing I'll say about the violence, the pacing or the. There's a slow build in Kinnickin kills because you have to set up the whole story. You have to set up where this family is going. All this other stuff that goes on the story behind candy cane a little bit when you go into the sequel, it's like, well, shit's already hit the fan. We're already in all this. Like, this is, like, going on. This is happening. This is all like, the craziness. Those people aren't going to pick. People aren't going to pick up candy cane kills again without reading the first one. It's pretty crazy to pick up a book that says the word again in it and be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to grab this.
I will say you did a phenomenal way of pitching or entering the book by putting the pages together that explains a little synopsis of what happened.
Previously on oh, yeah. Which is phenomenal. People. I want people to read it, so I'm not gonna do anything with it. But the. The idea that it, you jump right in like that, you don't have to set up small. I mean, there is a little setup, but, like, you don't have to, like, the first few chapters of candy Cane kills that you don't end up doing this. You were able to just jump in. Did that make the book feel like you had more pages to work with?
[00:24:46] Speaker B: You know, it was, like, both exciting and intimidating because it was like, you know, the setup of a normal story takes up a certain amount of space to kind of fill out the arc of it. And this, I was like, oh, well, we're just getting straight into it, so I need to make sure I have enough momentum but also story beyond that to carry it through. But it was useful to both check in with our surviving characters from the first book and be like, okay, well, what's the new kind of conflict that they're dealing with in this one? You know, aside from, you know, the wild killer that's chasing them through a church, they still have interpersonal stuff going on. And then also the church offering a new cast of characters to get to know. And also, you know, part of it was, in some ways, this is kind of like a pearl to x kind of thing. Like, the sequel has a little bit of a prequel energy to it because there's kind of flashbacks to how candy cane was raised in this community.
So there was, that's how I found, like, enough kind of story to carry it. Even though there's no setup, it's just immediately gets going and everyone's dying immediately. Yeah.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah. But I will say so. We, I live in the world of comics a lot, and we talk at the comic book shop about how too many comic comics come out monthly. Okay. And comics come out monthly. Most comics come out monthly, and there are very few that actually put the previously on or the, or the last issue synopsis in there. And it pisses me off. You have no idea, because it's a month, okay? A month is just long enough to actually forget about what's going on there, but not enough time to reread, or not enough time, but not enough. You don't usually have the time or think about rereading the issue to kind of, kind of continue it on. And that's why I think a lot of people have waited to go to trades and trade paperbacks because they're like, I'm just waiting till the story comes out before I. Before I'm done doing that. But, you know, candy cane kills. I mean, there was enough time. It's a novella. So, like, if I really, really, really wanted to, I could have, before I jumped into candy cane kills again, I could have read candy cane kills and got it over with. So I could kind of, like, set my brain up and then go, which I recommend because obviously, like I said, it's a continuation of the story, so it makes sense to do that. But having that previously on in the beginning of this kind of goes, okay, now I kind of under an idea what's going on here, why I should be reading this and skipping reading the first book. Again, not that you should, but I'm just saying, like, it's helpful in that sense because it gave me the ability to be like, okay, I could just jump right in. I don't have to wait and read the other book again.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And that was, that was actually Stephanie books in the freezer podcast had, I think, tweeted something about, I wish that sequel books had a previously on section like, like tv shows do. And I was like, you know, that's a really good idea. And then rather than, yeah. So I took a cheeky approach to that with how I structured previously.
[00:27:52] Speaker A: And again, we could tell it, but I really think it's one of those things I like people. If you don't, if you haven't and you're listening to this and you don't know what it is to just open the book and be like, oh, shit, this is crazy. This is cool. I like this. And get that from there. I think that's worth a. Worth holding on to.
But we talked a little bit already about holidays, Christmas horror. You now have the church involved in this. Like, you're pissing a lot of people off out there, Ryan.
But no, but I think it's cool because I do think that even in the sense that. So I try to, when I go to read books and I'm looking months in advance and putting my TBR together and saying, what am I going to read? And so on and so forth, obviously looking to December, I'm like, I'm going to read Christmas horror. Like, I want to read horror. I want to read Christmas stuff. So, like, let's. Let's do it together. And doing the research on it, there's not an insane amount of it. Like, there's not, like, it's not easy to do. You could, you could probably find more Christmas, 4 July or summer or, sorry, sorry, summer horror and 4 July horror than you can this Christmas thing. And is it difficult to do? Is that.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Why?
[00:28:53] Speaker A: Is it just something that is so niche that people don't. Not a lot of people want? Like I said, I am all for it. So was there something that really. You've talked to her a little bit, but touching on some more, like, really jumped out about you doing this as a Christmas horror?
[00:29:06] Speaker B: I don't know why. Yeah, I mean, to me, like I said, it just feels so obvious. Especially because for me, like, I love, like, the character driven drama built into a horror story. And Christmas to me is full of like, family drama. That's when like, families come together and all this stuff comes out.
And I mean, like, if you watch the bear, they did a whole Christmas episode that really nails. Especially, like, my family's italian american and like, man, they really, really nailed how much of a horror show Christmas can be. So to me, that aspect of it was also, also just felt kind of obvious.
And, you know, the first book touches a little bit on the kind of christian element baked in, but the second book certainly goes kind of full tilt into it.
But, yeah, I'm all for every, every holiday having horror stories attached.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there is, there obviously is in the, in the Christmas season, there is this thing, there's horror stories and books out there based around Christmas, but I feel like there's a lot of anthologies, you know, short stories, there's all that, but it just feels like, I don't know, I feels like there's not enough people out there just, it's not that. It's not extremely hard, in my opinion, just a shift where you to, when you tell your story to be around the holidays. And I do think that there's, again, there's this comfort ness to the holiday season that you feel like, oh, it's snowing out and there's lights and we're going for a walk and there's caroling and hot chocolate, and that just begs for me to have someone murder some.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, the whole notion of Santa Claus is a home invasion story. So I don't know why we're pretending like it's not like he has tiny minions, he comes down to your chimney while you're sleeping. Like, it's already scary stuff.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: So there's only so many times you can tell the Santa Claus story or the Jesus story or any of those stories. Again, you can only tell those stories so many times before. You're like, it's just, that's another reason why I'm a big fan of, like, fat man. Those kind of, like, holiday movies that are just like another take on Christmas. And the fat man one goes to the point where he's like, how shitty it is to actually be Santa Claus because there's, like, budgets to keep and there's, like, things coming after you and you can just see his body just broken down from being Santa. And it's just like, yeah, he relishes the 366th day of the year and then the next year being like, ah. And then the day he has to go out and actually deliver presents to snotty nose kids, it's like, this sucks. I'm bringing my gun with me.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Like, that stuff to me is like, it's just a different telling. And again, that's why I feel like maybe that's why I gravitate so much towards Christmas horror is the fact that I've heard the Rudolph story. I've heard all these Santa Claus stories. I want to hear something different. And taking a family that's trying to work on some shit and taking a family that's trying to vacation and do things like that and then taking them and having to be a slasher, to me, just adds that different element that I'm looking for. And so that's where I gravitated towards reading this book first. Like, the candy cane kills over a year ago or right around a year ago. And then to follow it up with a killer sequel is something special. And so I thank you for doing that because I think there needs to be more Christmas horror.
[00:32:25] Speaker B: Oh, thank you. Yeah. And there's so much, as we're saying, like, kind of iconography attached to Christmas and kind of characters like Santa Claus. And that was also, for me, a goal in writing, really. In writing all of any slasher that I write, I love the kind of iconic slashes like we talked about. Like, art is the, is the first kind of, in a long time.
So I knew for me, part of it was, you know, the first book is a little bit of a mystery as to who or what candy Cane is. But by the time we did the sequel, I was like, let's just put her on the. It's her story. I want her on the COVID I'm, like, staring at fan art on my wall right now that a reader of the first book had sent me and once I kind of came up with that notion of like, this, this girl in, in red and white striped pajamas that are overgrown. You know, ten years ago, I was like, you know, that image for me sticks in a way that I really love. And it was fun to kind of conceive of my own kind of Christmas slasher in terms of just the visual.
[00:33:24] Speaker A: Element of the character and the stained glass from the church and stuff like that. It was awesome with the bleeding eyes. But I guess another thing that draws you to Christmas or winter horror is the idea that the difference between red and white, you know, having the snow and having blood on it. And that's another reason why I feel that terrifyer works, because they put Arthur clown in a, in a costume that has a lot of white on it. So the blood just pops right off. His face is white. So the blood splatters on his face. He pops right off of it. And so, yeah, that, that, the back of the COVID having a snow angel on it that has blood on it is phenomenal as well. Yeah, it's, these stories now feel like they belong at shark wave. Do you agree on that? Like, it just, it seems like it fits all these stories. We've now gotten, what, five that have either been released or about to be released with Candy cane kills again. And then you've got the 6th and the 7th one announced. Alan's announced those coming too, in the future.
But do you feel that same way after looking at maybe, I'm guessing, have you read all of them? Have you at least glanced through some of them? They know that it fits in that place.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think that the, I mean, short wave and Alan Lustufka there is so thoughtful about, you know, the brand of this company that he has created that is especially the killer VHS franchise as its own kind of unit. I feel like he has a vision for short live as a whole. And then killer VHS is an even more specific vision. And so every author that he chooses and every story kind of fits within the milieu, but also allows enough room for that author to bring their specific flavor to it. And I certainly think that, you know, I look at what Kim, I mean, for one thing, novellas are not as popular for traditional publishers to publish.
You'll see, like, you know, someone like Ronald Malfy gets like, collections of novellas published, but individual novellas is a much more kind of niche indie market. Even though I don't know why traditional publishing is not jumping on this train, because especially for horror, they're, I think they're perfect.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: And people's attention spans are so small nowadays that, like, I honestly know people who don't read books when they see the size of it. You know, they just, they look at the size of the book like, yeah, I'll read something different because they just want to get something, they want to consume something and move on. And so you're such like a great thing to slice into your and place where your longer books are. But, yeah, continue.
[00:35:56] Speaker B: I agree. Yeah, I think especially with a brand like Killer VHS. And that was something I was very conscious of, that I wanted it to feel like you're watching a movie and that means it's going to be a kind of shorter experience than a full length novel, obviously. And I also just think the content, like, especially like looking at the COVID of Candy Cane kills again. I don't think a traditional publisher would have allowed our mark, politician and shortwave to go so hard on that cover and let that be on.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: But I hope someday it's at plenty of bookstores. But I do think that in indie press, like, shortwave can take those creative big swings and kind of stand out from the crowd as a result of that because it's beautiful artwork and, yeah, I think that it all kind of fits within that brand.
[00:36:49] Speaker A: And the cool thing for most people outside, the people who get to read advanced copies of this, like myself, is that they'll get it on November 12 and be right in that season that you're getting right. You're gearing up to, you know, I don't know how many people I know. I'm one of a few that here and there, like, tomorrow the new Batman resurrection comes out, the sequel to the original Batman, the 1989 Batman movie comes out and I'll be like, putting down whatever I'm reading and reading that just because I'm excited to read that. I don't know how many people go to the bookstore, buy the book, and that night they're reading it, or they just put it on a stack and so on and so forth. But if you pick it up on November 12, then you have the ability to, to now wait, or pick it up on November 12 and then pick up candy cane again and watch that, or read that again and then read the sequel and be right into that Christmas season. I think it's wonderful. I read it, like, in, like, I don't know, august, which is awesome. But it was like, I don't know, kind of cool if, like, I live in New England, so it was kind of cool if it was snowing out and, like, you know, christmasy feeling I still have. My wife and I, last Christmas, put up our, like, a little village we used to put up on a tabletop. But now I have kids, and so you can't put it down that low. So we have it up on top of our cabinets in our kitchen. And I don't remember what happened, but something happened right after Christmas, and it delayed, delayed, delayed, and got to the point where now it's still up there. We actually haven't taken it down yet. And so now we're like, okay, it's October 15. We're not taking it down. It literally has been up there all year.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: So I did have that in the room, but, you know, yes, the reading in August wasn't nearly as fun. I would have been reading it in November, in my opinion.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And that was something like we were conscious of, too, you know, talking to Alan about, like, well, if we do a Christmas book, like, it's probably gonna, you know, have these. These peaks every year around Christmas, and maybe it'll be quiet during the summer. I mean, briefly. A lot of people did read the first book, you know, in the last year, since the last Christmas season. But I also know that, like, I think it's gonna. Even November through December is gonna probably be the peak time that we see more reviews and people sitting down to dive into this Christmas story, which I'm all about. Having that, to me, is also part of Christmas tradition, is, like, you have certain movies that you watch every season, and I think since they're novellas, they're easier to revisit on an annual basis as well.
But, yeah, it certainly lends itself. And I've already had some readers telling me they're waiting until Christmas day to read it. I'm like, that's awesome.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: First of all, you're sick. But yes, awesome. That's great. It's amazing.
Do you do it with your blood? Your glass of blood, too? And, you know. Exactly. I think it'd be kind of a cool thing, Alan, if Alan's listening, is to do a next year thing in here that comes in, like, a VHS slip case looking thing that has one and two in it so that you can sell it next year as a duology and have it be in an actual, like, vhslip case.
[00:39:42] Speaker B: Yeah, there's definitely rumblings. I don't even know I'm supposed to say this, because it's nothing. There's nothing official or set in stone, but you talk about.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: You obviously talk about stuff behind the scenes. So this is not like, this is not like. I didn't just say that and be like, oh, my God, that genius label would have been. Yeah, yeah. Whoever thought that?
[00:39:58] Speaker B: But the idea, like, combining them in some capacity because, you know, together they are the length of a very. Of, like a short novel, but they are two very distinctive stories. But the way that they pair in a kind of double feature energy is something that would be fun to lean into even more.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: I've seen the people. Have you seen the people on Instagram who take the covers off and put their own covers on? I could see someone doing that, and they combined it. Someone actually did it. Book. It was. Was it the Twilight series? And they did all of the Twilight books. And so the book was like this, and you could, like, open it up. I'm like, can you imagine sitting there in your desk or your chair trying to read a book? You know, it's hard enough to read Twilight in the first place. I mean, I didn't say that, but, yeah, if I could see someone ripping the covers off these things and making their own cover and making their own novel, because, I mean, that's. That's a book. You know, you said it's a shorter book, but, oh, it's maybe 300 something pages. That's not crazy. And so, yeah, it's gonna find. I think that.
So is it easier this time around to promote this because of the book coming out already?
[00:41:07] Speaker B: You know, it's been interesting. Yeah, I feel like I'm so, so grateful to, you know, the people who supported the first book, especially folks like you, like, podcasters and bookstagram really embraced it, and I think they really embraced the candy cane character as well. And so that's the kind of stuff that really warms my heart, is people like, like, talking about candy cane and saying, like, our girl candy cane is coming back. And I'm like, yay. I'm so glad that you're all rallying behind this character in this way, that it kind of has its own momentum, which is really lovely. And again, like, it. It feels like. I don't feel as stressed about promoting it until. Especially until, you know, November. December really hits and it's tis the damn season.
But it's been, you know, gratefully that that first book kind of got a big amount of support, especially because it was in the night worms December box. I feel like that that got it to a lot of readers. I'm so grateful to Sadie and Ashley for that.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it's all cool until someone says my girl candy canes back and they point to their daughter they named Candy Cane.
That's when the problem comes into effect. You know, like, I will say my daughter's name is Riley Quinn. And Quinn's actually popped in my mind when we were naming my daughter after Adam Caesar's book clown on the cornfield, because I'm a big clown on the cornfield fan, and Quinn Maybrook is the main character. And so Quinn was like, oh, that's a name. And I brought to my wife, she's like, oh, I like that name. And so it's not like she's named after the character, but, like, that's why I have that name in my head, if that makes any sense.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: Exactly. It's like in your brain stew there. Yeah. I love that.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: It's like Quinn Maybrook. Quinn is my daughter's middle name because of that. So I wouldn't think it was crazy. However, if you name your daughter Candy Cane, it probably means that she's going to be a stripper. So don't do that.
Or cereal or slasher or both. I don't know.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: Adam's book, the best thing.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Adam's books are so good. I just read the third climb the cornfield, and he's just a fantastic writer and person, and I'm just grateful that these kind of, these slashers are. Yes, we're seeing, I got my german.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: Copy and my french copy, and my wife thinks I'm insane. And someone's like, do you know german or French? I go, no, I saw this one first because this cover is just dynamite, in my opinion. And then this cover is just so bad, in my opinion. I'm sorry, Adam, but this cover is. It must fit along the lines of what they like to read over in Germany, because this is, to me, this is just over the top. Yeah. And then there's. I think there's one other one that I wanted. It was either Serbia or some other southern american country.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: I know that Spain, because Adam and I share a spanish publisher.
So they're doing.
Yeah, they're doing curse the reaper this month, actually. And then they did the first two clown books already.
And that's dimensiones, occultists. They're fantastic. They hire really great artists to do their. Their covers. And that's. That's trippy as well, to have a book coming out in another language.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: It's. It's weird because there's certain things that you, like, open it up, and there's certain, like, the quote on the back is Paul Tremblay's quote. It's just weird. It's really weird to me just to see, like, Paul Tremblay. Then it says clown, and then the rest of it's in German.
[00:44:45] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: I'm like, oh, okay. Just. Yeah, okay. Cause the guy. I would read that. If you read that in the back bottom, you're like, oh, this is an english copy. And then you're like, oh, wait, never mind. That's not. It's also annoying to me. And this is just petty things. But us editions of books, the spine goes differently. So the spine, when you read, so they go the opposite direction.
[00:45:08] Speaker B: I did not know that.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And so when I go to put on the shelf, I'm like, God damn, I want to go this upside down. Um, no, I just got those. And I was like, that's very. That's fine.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: That's.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: That's my collector in me. Is that having those foreign editions that I'll never read, I'll just have them on the shelf. But it's kind of fun. Now I'll have to get cursed because I curse is amazing as well. So, um, quickly on, I wanted to touch on a couple things, but one of the things was. So Candy cane kills is the only shortwave of killer VHS that has an audiobook as of right now. Is that something that's in your, like, is this something you deal with? Or is that some Allen, like, how did that, like, there's only one. Why is it that candy cane kills the lucky one?
[00:45:50] Speaker B: I feel very fortunate for that. But, I mean, yeah, it was a conversation of whether or not, you know, audiobooks are very expensive to make. And so I think it's rare for an indie press to. To spend that kind of money. And so I think. I think Candy Cane was kind of testing the waters to see.
See, like, the financial efficacy of doing the audiobook. It's such a great. Elizabeth Rogers did an amazing job with it. I don't think there are any plans at the moment to do an audiobook for the sequel yet, but, yeah, I'm grateful that I have that as an option for folks to experience the story.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: I think it's funny because I'm like, well, now you can. I feel like you don't have to do. You know, I love Melanhead mayhem. I love cicada. Teleportasm was phenomenal. I'm sure the rest of them will be great, but I feel like. So they would probably be great on audiobook, but now I feel like, Alan, if you're listening, the only one that deserves one is this one. Just because if someone wants to read both of them now, they have to. Now they get the audiobook of one and not the audiobook of the next one. That's where I'm, that's where my plea is, is for those people who are audiobook heavy that they might not read the second one now because it's not available in audiobook. But I understand there's a cost to it. There's analysis, there's all that stuff that goes into it too. It's not just a simple thing in an independent publisher. It makes it a little harder in that sense too. And I would also recommend, I don't know how that works either, but Libro FM doesn't have it on there. But that's a very, very good independent place for audiobooks. And so I would pitch that idea too. But I've got Allen's email. I can email him.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:47:20] Speaker A: I'll make my pleasure than I do.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: All I know is that curse of the Reaper audiobook is now on Spotify Premium, which is pretty rad because the accessibility now is like, that's awesome.
[00:47:28] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's one of those like the funny thing is I know a lot of audiobook readers, including myself, who buy the physical novel and still sometimes read the. Do both. Like I own every audiobook that basically I would say, obviously a good 90% of the audiobooks that I own, I also own the physical copy of the book. And so like that's just a second purchase too. Like that's just a second person. Like buying the book. Like it's a cool thing in that sense because I do a lot of, you probably heard, but I've do a lot of hybrid. So I listen to an audiobook while I'm doing dishes, but I'll read the audio, I'll read the book before I go to bed. And so buying it twice, basically to read it in audiobook and in physical book. But yeah, I'm hoping for a sequel so that I could. Or a sequel audiobook so I can listen to both of them because I also feel like it's a different. I don't know, you can take it differently. And so I feel like either hearing someone's inflection, someone's potential accents, or they say words or say names, it helps kind of figure out a little, you know, I don't even know if sometimes, sometimes I hear them say names. I'm like, I don't even know if the person narrating this knows if that's the actual way to say right. But, but yeah. So sometimes I'm like, oh, that's actually how you say it. Or the town or whatever it may be. And so audiobooks, to me, you get a, it's not the same as reading it or physically reading it, but like, I don't know, it gives you more. So if you're going to read it again, I can understand listening to the audiobook and then reading the physical copy for your second time, or the opposite. And so I think I might listen to the audiobook the second time. We'll see. Yeah, it's out there. But um, not only do you have two killer VHS books, which again, I want to reiterate that that candy cane kills is available now at shortway publishing. So grab that. But also order candy cane kills again, the second slang, which again, I keep on wanting to write, slaying, like, like that sleigh ride for some reason. I don't know why, but I'm like, I'm kind of glad you didn't do that because I feel like that would be just over the top. Corny.
We released a new flavor at my brewery in hard Seltzer. It was BlackBerry and it's in collaboration with University of Maine, which is the black bears. And the number of people were like, you could have done BlackBerry. And I'm like, we didn't want to go that corny. We did not want to go that corny out BlackBerry.
But I'm glad you didn't do it. But I was just kind of funny. But Candy Cane kills again, the second slang hits November 12. But you can preorder it. And I'll tell you right now, a little hint, if you pre order it from shortwave publishing's website, you'll get it early because Alan's very good at sending them out so that you make sure you get it on release date, which usually means you get it about a week in advance. So if you want it faster than anybody else, order it directly from shortwave, if you don't care, or whatever. Bookshop.org is a good place because it helps independent bookstores or pre order it with a local bookstore and say, I really want this. And then they can get in touch with Alan and so on and so forth, distribution and all that stuff. But shortwave publishing website, you likely will get it early. There's just a little tip for you guys out there.
[00:50:18] Speaker B: Yeah, there's also some, some extra goodies. Like you mentioned the membership, but, but specifically with this book, we had some prayer cards made up, which I wrote a hail candy prayer. Yep. You got one there.
And then we're also going to be including signed book plates.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: Yeah. For all pre orders. So do that.
[00:50:41] Speaker A: Preorder it. Pre order it. Yeah. I honestly, I hate, I think people probably think of a broken record when I say this. It helps so much when you pre order things. Like, it drastically helps with people and so on. So, like, just preordering things. We know you're going to buy it, just preorder it and get it out of the way. But you have, it's November 12. Just reminding everybody that you have another book coming out that I want you just to quickly touch on because it's coming out in 2025. But you announced a new book coming from poison pen Press. What's that all about?
[00:51:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So this will be a full length novel with poison pen coming in fall 2025. And it is called breathe in, bleed out. And it is pitched as Midsommar meets scream because it's about a group of friends who go to this remote spiritual healing retreat, kind of off the grid experience in Joshua Tree, California, and a mysterious slasher starts picking them off one by one and killing their vibe. So this was such a fun book to write, and I'm really thrilled that it landed at poison Pen. I feel like they have a really great kind of mix of thriller and horror on their docket, and they really understood what the book was and kind of just encouraged me to lean into that because it is a bit more of a locked room murder mystery. But then with those, those gory slasher kills that I can't, I can't not do.
And so, yeah, I'm really, really thrilled that that one found a home and will be out next year.
[00:52:15] Speaker A: That's exciting. And so fall of 2025, which it seems like now you're just gonna come out with your book to run the fall time, which is fine with me. It's great. You know, seems like a good time.
But no, I'm excited for that. I'm excited to dive into another novel, Folake novel from you. And I know a lot of your readers are as well as well, because curse of the reaper was phenomenal, and I know a lot of people are out there for that. And so poison print is phenomenal. And they've reached out, actually, recently because they saw that multiple people picked books of theirs for our horror novels of the year or horror novels of people like writers that like the horror novels. And they were like, hey, would you like to read some of our books? I was like, ah, sounds good. To me.
[00:52:55] Speaker B: Hey, that's good to hear. They've got their ear to the ground and they're seeing a. Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:00] Speaker A: And I got in the mail a blood on her tongue because you, and along with Josh winning, both recommended reading that I'm like, those two names, I can't. Not actually, that's all I got. I feel like I want to do this now every year just to get books to add to my TBR, because, like, last year, I feel like half the books I read right after that horror week were all books that, like, Daniel Krause was a Stephen Graham Jones, uh, and Adam Caesar all picked. I was like, oh, I haven't read that book. I haven't heard about that book. And that's why I put all them on my list. The same thing this year. I was like, okay, cool. And I got all these books to read because everybody recommended it. I love that.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: I love that. Like, paying it forward because I think that was. Yeah. Stephen Graham Jones had recommended Curse the reaper, and that's how you and I connected. And just like, that's one thing I love about the horror writing community is everybody's just, like, fully supporting each other and the books they love and the writers that they're connecting with.
[00:53:52] Speaker A: So it's actually kind of funny because I didn't even realize that I knew. Josh Whiting told me that they put up, the publisher put a poll quote from our review on the back of heads will roll. And so I was like, oh, that's phenomenal. I can't wait. And it wasn't until, like, after I showed my wife it that she read it. She goes, look right above it. And they actually also put on the back of the book that Stephen Graham Jones picked, heads will roll as one of the books in my horror pics. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. They put two things on the back of it. And I was like, that is such a random thing. It's just a random list that I put out there, and it ended up in the back of a book. I was like, okay, that's pretty cool. I'll take it.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: Yeah, man. This stuff has real impact to raise awareness, and it's so appreciated. And it's cool because we're all just fans, so we're all just kind of shouting about the stuff that we love and getting to support it. And like I said at the start of, like, rising tide lifts all boats. Like, success in horror means we get more horror, and it's really radhe.
[00:54:47] Speaker A: And so you have a book coming out. You have candy cane kills again coming out on November 12. You have the book coming out in the fall and you're teaching. Is that what you're focused on right now is writing? And obviously you're probably gonna work on another project after your book in the fall. But, like, you, are you doing any tv stuff? Are you trying to do anything? Are you just backing away? What's your other stuff that you're doing outside of writing books?
[00:55:10] Speaker B: Yeah, so, yeah, I'm still doing short stories for like, anthology. So I have a short story coming in, punk goes horror anthology from Trueborn Press. William Sterling, editing. Super fun. Writing a story based on a dashboard confessional song, screaming infidelities, and a couple other that haven't been announced yet that I was invited to write short stories for. And I love doing short stories. Just kind of, it's a very different approach for me. I don't outline it more discovery based, but yeah, on the film and Tv front, it's mostly my focus is writing the books and the short stories. And then I have agents who kind of shop them around. Curse the Reaper is in development. It's been optioned. It's getting set up at a studio. There's a writer director, but it's Hollywood, so it's kind of just.
I have learned to not to just put it out of my head at this point and just wait and see if anything keeps manifesting. And I have another project in development, but it's all for me. The focus has been on writing the books and stories, although I did, I had wrote a script adaptation for Candy King kills that we were shopping with the sequel now kind of doing another runaround of starting to package that. But yeah, it's fun now having worked. I worked in film and tv for years before writing books, but now I feel like I'm coming back to it with a very different approach as an author.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: I think it's kind of funny. People always talk about in the book world, comic book world, about options and all that stuff. And I laugh because it's like either happens, either curse the Reaper gets made in two years or three years, or it's ten or 15. There's no ever six year plan, seven year plan. It's always one of these things. And I talked to Jay Bon and Senga, who came on to talk about the killers game, and that took 30 years.
From the day it was optioned for the first time till it hit theaters in September. It took 30 years for his book to come out. And he says the only benefit to that is that obviously the option ran out, so it was optioned multiple times, which means he kept getting checks for it. So he's like, he'd get a check on his desk. He'd be like, what is this? And like, oh, someone optioned your movie again. He's like, oh, cool, cash. Yep. That was the only thing I was great about it was that people paying money for things and then not making it, so it was like, whatever. But finally it came out, and he's finally happy about. But, yeah, I think it's one of those things that, like, I was looking at something else. I forget what it was that I was like, wow, they're actually already making that into a movie. And it was like, two years after the book came out, and I was like, oh, that's pretty interesting. And then there's things like Jay Bond and Singa where it's 30 years, there's never a real good timeframe on whether or not, you know, when your movie's actually gonna be made. I mean, Adams is in. Adams, I believe, is in post production. Adam, Caesars clown on the cornfield. I think it might be done honestly or close to being done. So we're hoping to see a date on that one coming soon, but.
[00:58:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, very excited to see that one. It's, you know, and I know, like, Paul Tremblay, like, head full of ghosts, has been optioned and in development with big names for, you know, the last decade or so.
But then he has. Has movies made as well. Like, in between.
[00:58:21] Speaker A: It's like, yes.
[00:58:22] Speaker B: Yeah. You just never know. And you have no authors really have no control over that side of things. I've heard many, many a seasoned author just say, take the money and run when it comes to options, just like.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: And then the other side of it is the creative side of it. Some of it's like, Keith Rossin was saying that Fever House was optioned, and he was like, if someone asked him, do you get to tell them what to do? What's it like? What's it going to be like? He's like, I just. It's theirs now. Like, whenever you do it, you do it. If you want my input, I'll be consulting writer on it, consulting producer on it, but now it's yours, so I can't. You bought it from me to make into a movie. Unless there's other stipulations in there that you get to go on as a writer. Like, he's like, I. Whatever. It's not my problem anymore. It's theirs. It's their thing. So I was like, that's a good.
[00:59:09] Speaker B: Mindset to have because, yeah, I think it depends on what the project is. But, like, for me, curse of the reaper, the writer director who said they wanted to adapt it, I'm such a fan of that. I was like, great. I'm not gonna try to angle it and say I have to adapt it myself. Like, I've already told the story, so I'd rather see your version of it. And I'm a consulting producer on it, but it's not like I'm interfering in any sort of way.
But with candy cane kills, I was like, you know, I kind of was already seeing this as a movie. Like, it's such an easy adaptation that that one I'm taking a different approach to.
[00:59:41] Speaker A: Yeah, and it depends on the project. It's one of those things that, like. Yeah, and you mentioned that with the whole creator, writer director being someone you appreciate and respect. They have your phone number. They'll call, or someone in their team has their phone number, they'll call you if they have a question about something specific in the, in the book. But otherwise, yeah, sometimes you just have to go, you wrote the book to be a book, right? Like, that's what you did. You wrote the book for originally to be in, on pages in an audiobook format, and someone can read it that way. The secondary part of that is the, is the adaptation is not why you originally went into writing curse the Reaper. Well, kind of. I know you write scripts and things like that, but I'm saying it's like the book itself at this moment, now that it's been published, that's what you did it for. And so whatever happens after that, I can see being like a whatever. Not whatever. You know what I mean?
[01:00:26] Speaker B: No. And that the book will always exist. And that's something I'm grateful for. Coming from the world of screenwriting, where, you know, projects, even if they do get made, my original screenplay usually isn't exactly what makes it to the screen at the end of the day, or projects that never got made, that I wrote a script, and it's just nobody ever gets to see it. But with books, gratefully, it's like, well, my vision always exists, no matter what. So I'd rather see somebody else tell their spin on it.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Watch. Dismissed. People.
[01:00:54] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
You know, a case where not it, not all of it went, made it to the screen as well. But, you know, there's, it was, it's.
[01:01:03] Speaker A: One of those things. It's like, I liked it it was. It was, you know, I don't know. It's still. It's still. I don't know if I'll ever watch it again, Brian. But, like, I watched it, like, it's. Checked it off. It's one of those, you know, crazy things I. Because I told people, like, I watched some things before I. To talk to you, obviously, and I did that when I talked last time with dismissed. And I meant to do it because David Goodman was on last week, and I meant to do it with. He wrote episodes of Wings back in the nineties, and my mom and dad used to watch that show all the time, and I was like, oh, I've got to go back. And then I couldn't figure out where to watch it. I was, I was too busy and so on and so forth. But I told him, I was like, I gotta watch it. Goes, I think they're free on Pluto tv or something like that. I was like, I'm gonna watch some. Some wings episodes because I've seen all the Family Guy episodes of these wrote in Futurama and Orville, but I was like, the Wings tv show? Yeah, there. That's where it's at.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Deep cuts only, but, yeah.
[01:01:53] Speaker A: So candy Cane kills is available. Grab that. Candy Cane kills again is coming November 12, pre order that shockwave, or, sorry, shortwave publishing right now and then be on the lookout. How soon does. It's still. This publishing world is crazy. How soon will a pre order link go up for that? Like, will it be months and months and months before you actually get a pre order?
[01:02:17] Speaker B: That's a good question.
Yeah, for the. For the next book. Read the mood out. Yeah, it's. Yeah, you know, it's coming out fall next year, so hopefully by spring. Yeah, we'll have the COVID and pre order. My dream would be by the time Stoker Con hits, which is, like, late May, early June. Yeah, I think it's definitely June this year. I hope that there will be arcs available for Stoker Con, but it's trippy to think of that because. Yeah, the time everything takes is so wild, and I'm already writing my next book, so it's. It's always, like, promoting the book that's coming out this year. Thinking about the book that's coming out the year after while writing the next book. It's just. Yeah, always kind of.
[01:02:57] Speaker A: Stover Con 2025 is mid June, and it's in Connecticut, which makes me so happy because it's New England. I can. It's a couple hour drive. My parents live in Hartford. Right outside Hartford. I'll just drive down. I'll stay with them. This is gonna be amazing. I'm gonna start gone this year. It's gonna be so much fun.
[01:03:12] Speaker B: My folks are in. I grew up in North Jersey, so I'm gonna be going back and staying with them and then driving because it's. Yeah, two hour drive or something.
[01:03:18] Speaker A: But yeah, that's okay. Excited for that to do that. But yeah, so, yeah, grab all those and grab curse of the reaper as well. Available. Is that available on paperback yet?
[01:03:29] Speaker B: So it's allegedly coming fall 2025 as well.
It's only taken three years since the publication of the hardcover. But, you know, different publishers take different approaches, I guess.
Yeah. Right now it's only available in hardcover and audiobook, like I said, the audiobook is on Spotify. But hopefully we'll see that paperback next year. And in an ideal world, there will be a film announced to help as well.
[01:04:01] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. I just always laugh because I think it happened at Daniel Krause this year, too, where the whale fall paperback released like a week after pay the piper released. And I was like, that doesn't make it easy for you to promote these things or anything like that. Hey, you guys have limited income. Cool. Go buy both of my books that I have come out with.
[01:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah, ideally you want to kind of stagger them and have some kind of strategy there. Yeah.
[01:04:24] Speaker A: But it also doesn't help us to do different publishers. All that stuff, too. It's all. It's all difference in that stuff, too. But, yeah, but I highly recommend grabbing all of the killer vhs books. So why not, when you're on short wave's website, if you haven't read any of them, just buy them all. There's five cicada just came out in September, which is absolutely phenomenal by Tanya Pell as well. As we talked on here with Joshua McMillan about teleportasm. And then obviously, Alex Epstein's melon head mayhem. And then your candy cane. Two candy cane books are all amazing. But if you have to pick any, if you have a limited income and you can only buy two, buy these Christmas ones. Cause it's Christmas season. You can buy the rest of them later.
[01:05:06] Speaker B: Thank you. No, I appreciate it. It's such a rad series to be a part of. And the ones that have been announced for next year, I'm just like, yes, we've got Patrick Barb and Laurel Hightower and Joshua Hull. Like, we've got.
[01:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah, phenomenal things coming out, too. Yeah. And all their other novellas. I mean, Nat Cassidy's rest stop is insanely. You'll never want to pee in a public restroom ever again, but I'll just leave it at that. It's just so good. So check that out. And I believe if anybody follows Alan in Twitter, Alan is very happy about that book coming out. I don't know if anybody can tell.
[01:05:39] Speaker B: But it's doing well, which. Oh, I should also mention, I'm gonna be doing events. I live in Arizona, so I'll be doing some events here in November, but December, Nat and I will be doing an event at Doylestown books in Pennsylvania. I might be heading to Brian Keane's vortex books and comics the next day, and then Thunder Road books in New Jersey. So that. Yeah. Follow me on the instagrams for updates on any events.
[01:06:06] Speaker A: That's awesome. Doylestown. That's Adam Caesars home.
[01:06:10] Speaker B: I know we were there in August for the Dark Inc. Event, and that was my first time finally meeting Adam and getting to hang with friends like Nat and Rachel and Clay and a bunch of other folks, and just.
It's a really loving home for the horror community there.
[01:06:27] Speaker A: That's awesome. I'm so excited. So, yeah, I'm loving everything you're doing. Keep up the good work. I always welcome on the podcast, too, so, you know, we'll have you back on in the future and actually might work out if we have you back on in a year, maybe before that year, maybe it'll be a horror week, a horror week guest next year to help promote your next book, because it'll be right around that time. So we'll see. But, yeah, everybody, check it all out. Get it when you get where you can get it. I recommend buying it from shortwave's website. Uh, but if you can't buy it from them, buy it wherever you can buy it, because buying it still matters. I know you don't want to help out with these big, big, big companies, but, like, if it's between not buying it or buying it, I'm pretty sure we're all leaning on the idea you should probably buy it. So that's my. That's my big thing. The only thing I say don't do is steal it. But other than that, you can, you know, steal other things so you could pay for this. That's my. My, uh, my piece of advice here on the podcast, Brian. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day, uh, to chat with us about candy cane kills and so much more. We'll have you back on in the future. Sounds good.
[01:07:27] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Justin.
[01:07:28] Speaker A: I appreciate it, man. You have a good day. You, too.
